1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cutlery implements, and more particularly pertains to a food grasping tong designed specifically for use in handling and eating barbecued ribs. Barbecued ribs are typically served covered with a barbecue sauce which is somewhat sticky and messy to handle. Conventionally, these ribs are manually grasped in the fingers of the consumer during eating. In order to provide a neater method of eating these flavorful but messy ribs, the present invention provides a specially designed food grasping tongs for grasping and manipulating a barbecued rib while it is being eaten.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of cutlery implements for grasping food items during eating are known in the prior art. A typical example of such a cutlery implement is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,539,669, which issued to E. Hauser on May 26, 1925. This patent discloses a pair of insertion forks having manual grasping handle portions and which are adapted for insertion into opposite ends of an ear of corn. U.S. Pat. No. 2,999,713, which issued to J. Jones on Sept. 12, 1961, discloses a corn ear grasping implement having a wire frame with spring biased pivotal opposed grasping jaws. U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,368, which issued to J. Majeske on Feb. 26, 1974, discloses a cork screw tYpe insertion implement for use in eating an ear of corn. U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,384, which issued to A. Falcone on Apr. 23, 1974, discloses a hand manipulated tool for grasping and removing kernels from an ear of corn. U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,902, which issued to B. Sciaino, Jr. on Dec. 7, 1976, discloses a pair of insertion spikes for insertion into opposite ends of an ear of corn which are receivable in telescoping relation during storage.
While the above mentioned devices are directed to cutlery implements for grasping food items, none of these devices disclose a food grasping tongs having a spring steel wire frame with crossing frame members forming opposite ends of a torsional coil spring and having juxtaposed clamping jaws. Additionally, none of the aforesaid devices disclose a food grasping tongs with clamping jaws having an adjustable separation and provided with friction enhancing projections. Inasmuch as the art is relatively crowded with respect to these various types of cutlery implements, it can be appreciated that there is a continuing need for and interest in improvements to such cutlery implements, and in this respect, the present invention addresses this need and interest.